Gang Members Charged in Deadly Santa Monica Alley Shooting

Two reputed gang members were charged Thursday with murder and attempted murder in connection with a shooting in a Santa Monica alley that left one man dead and another critically injured.

Christopher Chonan Osumi, 19, and Meliton Lorenzo Lopez, 23, are accused of taking part in the shooting that occurred around 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, just days after an unrelated shooting rampage ended on the nearby campus of Santa Monica College.

A third man, 32-year-old Noah Jason Farris, was charged with being an accessory to the shooting.

All three were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at the Airport Branch Courthouse.

The trio were arrested in West Los Angeles about an hour after the shooting, which took place in an alley in the 1500 block of Michigan Avenue.

According to police and prosecutors, Osumi allegedly opened fire on the two victims, striking both several times. He and Lopez then fled the area in a vehicle. One of the victims, 29-year-old Santa Monica resident Gil Verastegui, died, according Santa Monica police Sgt. Richard Lewis.

The second victim, whose name was not released, remains in critical condition, Lewis said.

Investigators tracked the suspects -- who matched descriptions provided by witnesses -- to the 1500 block of Armacost Avenue in West Los Angeles. The three suspects were arrested after a short foot chase.

Osumi and Lopez were being held in lieu of $1 million bail, but prosecutors planned to ask that their bail be raised to $3 million each. They were expected to ask for Farris' bail to be set at $500,000.

The shooting occurred less then a mile from Santa Monica College, where a shooting rampage ended last Friday when police killed a heavily armed gunman in the campus library. Five people were killed in the shooting spree -- the gunman's father and brother at their home about a mile from campus, and three other people either on or near the SMC grounds.

-City News Service contributed to this report.